To the surprise of nobody that watches the Rays, the team will go with a 20-man platoon at DH in 2014. OK, maybe not 20-man officially. It will actually be four guys according to Roger Mooney. But that will just be for starters.

In fact, the Rays should just rename the position. Maybe “Designated Match-Up Guy.” Or “Designated Odd-Man Out.” Or maybe “Designated Gut Feeling Guy.” Or how about “Designated Anybody-But-Manny-Or-Burrell Guy.”

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

The Rays signed right-handed reliever Mark Lowe to a minor league deal. Lowe has pitched parts of 8 seasons in the big leagues including 11 appearances with the Angels in 2013. His best season was probably 2011 when he made 52 appearances for the Rangers and posted a 3.80 ERA. [Jerry Crasnick]

So now Bud Selig is not going to get involved in the stadium negotiations. Anybody else’s head spinning? [TampaBay.com]

Meanwhile, the Rays are planning renovations of The Trop which will include opening up the batter’s eye restaurant into a concession area and creating a walkway in the outfield that can still see the field. [TampaBay.com]

The Rockies have shown interest in James Loney. I know a lot of people want Loney back, but other teams see exactly what you guys see which means he is going to get a good offer from somebody. [Troy Renck]

Apparently Keith Olbermann is a personal friend of Stuart Sternberg and suggests Montreal as a possible future home of the Rays. [Shadow of the Stadium] If you want to be a conspiracy theorist, recall that Sternberg previously predicted that Montreal would have another MLB team in next 20 years. [RaysIndex]

David DeJesus’s wife was eliminated from “The Amazing Race.” I have no idea how well they did as I watched exactly zero seconds of the show. [Busted Coverage]

I have no problem with them splitting time at DH as long as they are hitting and
the money saved goes towards a Good hitting/defensive first baseman and catcher. The catcher we can pick up in trade as Cincinnati has a catcher Hannigan who we get cheap. The first baseman can also come via a trade
with the Angels packaging Price and prospects for Mark Trumbo packaging
with some prospects.,

I don't think the Rays will ever try to get Trumbo (and don't want them to). His average WAR over the last 3 seasons is 2.4. They got that (or better) with dumpster dive finds Kotchman and Loney, for much less than Trumbo's projected $4.7mil salary this season in his FIRST year of arbitration. Power gets more money on the open market and the Rays know that.
I actually haven't even seen the Angels mentioned in any conversation about trying to get Price or having the pieces to do so...a couple are below.
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2013/10/10/4822010/would-you-could-you-trade-for-price
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/where-does-david-price-fit/

I saw the Angels mentioned as a possible trade candidate. The package I saw included Trumbo, Bourjos, and a couple of prospects. I would not bet on this trade occurring but I certainly think the Angels are a dark horse candidate for Price.

I think teams can save money if they don't try to have an official "DH" or an official "closer." You can rotate players in these roles depending on match ups, who is tired, etc. I have the feeling that the biggest barrier to eliminating these as set roles comes from players themselves -- many apparently feel that knowing exactly when they will be called on is important to them. But if you can find players who can live with some uncertainty, I think you get more output for your money if you can have a number of players who can be effective in more than one role.

To me, having a nonpitcher on your team who can't field a position is a waste; having an effective reliever who you can't bring in unless it's a save situation is similarly wasteful.

Very good points. the Rays learned from the R Soriano experience to avoid having a prima donna closer fixated on his saves.

Two innovations of my youth, the DH and the idiotic "Save" stat created two unecessary positions which are artificial as you point out.

A team smartly constructed like the Rays can avoid both. Your observations point to the reasons why Delmon won't be back and a potential Luke Scott situation won't be repeated in 2014 by bringing in a another 1 dimensional gimp.

The merry- go- round of DHs sounds strange but Maddon is either a mad scientest or a great manager. No one will be left sitting on the bench getting stale and this would also help cover the dry spells in hitting that Matt Joyce and Wil Myers (remember the post season 1 for 22) had in 2013.

What are your thoughts on the Rays being able to land Corey Hart as an extra outfielder/DH?
Sounds like the kind of "fixer-upper" - "if-he-can-be healthy" type of signing that the Rays may take a chance on.

“Andrew Friedman said at last week’s general managers meetings that his team could employ a four-man rotation through the DH spot in 2014 with Matt Joyce and David DeJesus as the left-handed half of that quartet and Wil Myers and Desmond Jennings swinging from the right side.”

So AF blew smoke up Mooney’s butt and he reflexively whistled Dixie. That statement is absurd. While Joyce is an obvious RHP platoon DH the other 3 are projected as everyday outfield starters.

So that means we are looking for another above average to plus defensive corner outfielder who can hit LHP instead of an DH--- not that we are content with those 4. I bet that quartet provides less than half the DH starts in 2014.

We can only hope a healthy Longoria continues to bless us in 2014. Did anyone expect 159 starts and only 14 as a DH? I sure didn’t. Interestingly, only 1 of his 32 dingers came as a DH which led to his .091 lower OPS as a non fielder.

This roster is far from complete. We have enough money to sign Loney (if we want to)or another 1B along with another infielder, an outfielder, a starting pitcher and a few relievers. I don’t expect we will get an everyday player or pitcher in the Price deal unless he’s in his first contract and cheap with a lot of control left. But we will certainly need to sign a veteran arm who can give us a lot of innings, sort of like Fausto was envisioned to be but fell short obviously.

Most of the position you say the Rays need are already here. Outside of a first baseman, catcher, closer and possibly a right handed DH type, everything else is here. Guyer is out of options and will likely platoon with DeJesus, Rodriguez will be the primary back up infielder, and Odorizzi could fill the spot left vacant by Price. If the Rays picked up Hart, Young, Hannigan, and Benoit, I could see that being enough. If the Rays have the money, they could always add another starter, maybe Jason Hammell for 3 million. As for relievers, the Rays have plenty. Just signed Mark Lowe joins an impressive group of relievers at AAA led by Yates and Riefenhousen, that could make an impact right now.